Hello out there!

I don’t write much here anymore, but I still love this blog so much. It started at a time when my kids were young, and so was I. I was navigating the world of divorce at a time when my mid-20s felt ancient because while everyone my age was finishing college, hitting up the party scene, and preparing for their careers, I was signing school papers, attending soccer games, and wondering how I could possibly make it as a single mother when I couldn’t even afford an extra cup of coffee. Wine Country Mom was my tongue-in-cheek name for who I was because I wore secondhand clothes and used food stamps while my neighbors were stay-at-home moms with highlights and designer labels.

This blog was my growing space. I used this blog to confide my deepest fears, admit my struggles, and make public every time I fell short. Sometimes I met backlash from people who didn’t understand. But mostly, I met other moms and dads who got it, who saw themselves in my stories, and who added their own stories to the fold. I love the community that grew out of all our shared stories.

My kids are older now. At 18 and 21, I can hardly call them kids anymore, though I think I always will. I’m older too, no longer a 20-something, but now a 40-something. Our stories are no longer about outgrowing shoes and long days at the sports fields, but about college applications, adult conversations, and future talk. We’re in seperate directions more than we’re together, all of us leading busy lives. There are some dinners when it’s just my husband and me, with containers of food set aside with our kids’ names on them for whenever they make it home. Some things stay the same, though. The kids and I still enjoy our car of secrets, using car rides as a time to vent or confide. They still share their lives with me, which I’m so grateful for. We cherish our time together as a smaller unit within our blended family. And we honor the experiences we’ve shared together, some of them traumatic, some we wish we’d never experienced, but all that shaped who we are today and make our tiny unit of 3 unique.

And while I’m so different from the original Wine Country Mom, I will also always be her. She is my foundation, the place where I started over and reclaimed my life. She is the place where I embraced my humility, held my head up, and then did the hard work to get myself out of what could have been a rut.

While I don’t write here much, I will still stop by from time to time to offer thoughts or a story. You can also find me on social media, or at my author blog, where I write more regularly about books, thoughts, and stories from my life.

All my links are listed below.

See you around!